House Proteron

House Proteron was a historical faction in the history of Naev.

The Facts

House Proteron Society

House Proteron worlds were governed by a totalitarian regime that required its citizens to follow their dictated daily routines, severely punishing transgressions under a zero-tolerance policy. A Proteron citizen was typically not their own person. They were an asset of the government, their life’s labor neatly represented in a book keeping column somewhere. Even the details of their private life were managed and tallied by the authorities. Despite the lack of freedom and privacy, Proteron citizens were not mere slaves. The government kept them in top shape, providing an adequate supply of health care, relaxation, and entertainment, making sure all predispositions and tastes were catered for. This both kept citizens content and tuned their psyche for optimal performance. A Proteron citizen’s life was quite a satisfying one, though excitement was utterly absent.

House Proteron’s worlds were all specialist worlds. They were geared to performing a limited selection of tasks according to the planet’s natural properties. The inhabitants on a world were placed there by the government. Each individual was measured and tested, then sent to the world where they could be of the most use. As such, Proteron society was built of individuals rather than families - a family would only have complicated the relocation process.

The local planetary governments were directly responsible to a Patrician. A Patrician managed one or more worlds, depending on how densely populated and productive the worlds were. Once every four years all the Proteron Patricians met in a Circle. During these meeting, the Patricians would evaluate the development of each Proteron world individually as well as that of the greater Proteron body in general. Based on this evaluation, goals were set for the next four years. Each Patrician was expected to meet or exceed these goals, and those Patricians who failed to do so were removed from office - in a very permanent manner.

History

Project Proteron

When the Empire was still the undisputed power in the galaxy, it knew it could not last unless it was prepared to change with the times. As the people lived, adapted and expanded through the universe, there would undoubtedly be problems that could not be addressed by an antiquated regime. A repetition of the Faction Wars was to be avoided at all costs. Therefore, the Empire set up Project Proteron, an experimental environment to test new forms of government and galactic administration. The purpose of Project Proteron was to be the test-bed of the "next generation" Empire, an improved form of government that would keep the galaxy stable and under the rule of the Emperor.

Project Proteron was limited to a few worlds at first, on the basis that a galactic government could only succeed given stable planetary governments. Soon, however, the scope of the project expanded as its overseers came to the conclusion that planetary government needed to be designed simultaneously with galaxy-wide administration. Within a decade of its inception, the worlds assigned to Project Proteron numbered more than a dozen.

The Emperor, eager to see results, continued to push the experiment to work faster and more efficiently. As a direct result of this, the more liberal, self-controlling processes were eliminated from the test roster, and more emphasis was put on controlled, high-yield social structures. More and more planets were added to the project, its populations relocated, re-educated and re-assigned for a better turnout. The concepts of personal liberties and privacy became more and more a thing of the past, and eventually were abandoned altogether by those who led the Project.

The expansion and results of the Project led the then Emperor to promote Project Proteron from an Empire-commissioned Project to a full-fledged, independent Great House. The philosophy was that House Proteron would eventually become a prototype for the New Empire, and once all the bugs were ironed out, its model would be implemented in the entire known galaxy and House Proteron would once again be part of the greater Empire.

House Proteron

With its new title, House Proteron enjoyed more freedom and independence than it had so far. Its leaders eagerly made use of their increased authority, further fine-tuning House Proteron for economic and industrial efficiency as well as social control. Taxes were levied. Ships were built. A well-oiled military machine was created from scratch, securing House Proteron from outside influences as well as from those from within. In only a few years, House Proteron had become a powerful diplomatic and economic factor in the galaxy.

It was then that House Proteron began to notice the weakness in the old Empire. By this time the Houses Dvaered and Sirius had been established, both born from necessity rather than goodwill on the part of the Emperor, and both effectively reducing the Empire’s controlled territory. In addition, House Za’lek wasn’t returning on its investment as well as the Imperial bureaucrats had hoped, so the Empire’s technological development was not progressing well. Finally, in the eyes of the leaders of House Proteron, the Empire’s social model was crassly outdated and inefficient.

Some debate followed, but the consensus was that House Proteron had achieved its original goal, and now it was time for the Empire to make way for the new generation of galactic dominance. But when the Proteron leaders delivered this message to the Emperor, he became furious and ordered all leaders executed. Appalled at this reaction, the Proteron government concluded that the Empire had no intention of honoring the original agreement, thereby forfeiting its claim to the loyalty of House Proteron. There was to be a war of dominance, one House Proteron would surely win.

But as soon as preparations for a full-scale conflict were underway, the Incident struck. The Empire was torn asunder, but House Proteron was hit the hardest. As it happened, all of House Proteron’s worlds, including its home system Protera, were within the blast radius of the explosion of Sol, leaving no survivors (at least according to calculations by scientists).

Now that the dust has settled, many survivors view the destruction of House Proteron as the one silver lining to the Incident. While the Proteron are no more, every once in a while vintage Proteron ships from before the Incident can be found, usually only flown by the wealthiest of aristocrats. Proteron ship technology is still unmatched even now and has proven impossible to reverse-engineer, so some scientists and entrepreneurs have a desire to try to search the ravaged Proteron worlds on the other side of the nebula to see if they can find any clues. Unfortunately, current technology just doesn’t have any way to get past the barrier known as the inner nebula.